Will Smith wants the Oscars to lift his ban after the Chris Rock slap.
According to a close source, the actor is trying to find a way to have the ban lifted due to his industry accomplishments. Smith was suspended from attending the Oscars for 10 years after he slapped Rock joking about Jada Pinkett Smith.
Although he resigned from the Academy and apologized to Rock, the organization still decided to ban Smith. The source says the Academy should reconsider the ban due to the success of his latest movie, Bad Boys 4: Ride or Die.
“Will’s defenders are always reminding people that, with respect to ‘The Slap,’ Will apologized in no uncertain terms, but more importantly, Will is selling tickets and putting butts in seats at a time when the whole business is struggling…That counts for a lot…Will is a sinner, but sinners can be forgiven and he’s driving a lot of business right now, against all odds.”
The source added, “There are still people in the Academy who think Will should have been arrested for what he did. The big change this summer is that the fans have spoken, and they want Will to keep being a movie star. That’s huge and Will is using that as his rocket fuel to get back into the good graces of the Academy, which has more Black members than ever before.”
The source went on to say that a public acknowledgment from Rock is also needed. “Another obstacle is that Chris Rock is rightfully still very upset about the incident, and he’s a beloved Academy insider…The moment everybody is waiting for is for Chris and Will to publicly and genuinely bury the hatchet – that’s going to give the Academy the confidence to revisit their decision to ban Will from the Oscars for 10 years.”
Since the incident, Smith has apologized to Chris Rock but has not publicly talked about the incident in an interview. Do you think that the Oscars should lift Will Smith’s ban?